SECOND UPDATE from EPD: On 11/12/15 at approximately 5:43 p.m., EPD officers responded to multiple reports of shots being fired near Grant and D Streets. As officers were responding to the scene, additional calls came in reporting there was a female gunshot victim at an apartment in the 1000 block of E Street. Officers responded to the apartment and located the victim. The apartment was secured and medical personnel responded to the scene. The victim was transported by medical personnel to St. Joseph Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was alert and talking when she left the scene.

Witnesses at the scene described seeing a male subject running from the apartment wearing a dark gray or black hooded sweatshirt and black beanie. The suspect ran south on E Street from the apartment and then west on Clark Street.

Detectives from our Criminal Investigation Section and our Problem Oriented Policing unit responded to the scene. Information garnered early in the investigation helped us identify the suspect as Steven Nicholas Upton of Eureka. A county-wide bolo for Upton was released to all Law Enforcement Agencies requesting Upton be arrested for attempted murder if located. The same information was provided to the media on scene advising the public that Upton should be considered armed and dangerous and to report any sightings to law enforcement immediately.

At approximately 9:30 p.m., EPD received information from law enforcement personnel in Trinity County that they had stopped and detained Upton as a result of a traffic enforcement stop on Hwy 36. They advised they recognized Upton from pictures that were shared on social media sites.

POP Detectives responded to the location of the traffic stop and took custody of Upton. The vehicle he was driving was also seized as evidence and transported back to Eureka where it will be processed. Upton was interviewed by detectives and then booked at the Humboldt County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and a probation violation.

This was not a random act of violence. Upton and the victim know each other, however the exact motive for the shooting is still unknown.

The victim was treated at St. Joseph Hospital for two gunshot wounds. One to the leg and one to her hand. She was flown to an out of the area hospital due to her injuries. Her injuries are not expected to be life threatening.

Update: The Eureka Police Department arrested Steven Nicholas Upton, according to a posting on the department’s Facebook Page. Upton was sought on suspicion of shooting a woman on E Street just before 6 p.m. Thursday, the victim was taken to St. Joseph Hospital. More information will be available later today.

Previous reporting:

Eureka police were searching Thursday night for suspect they believe to be armed, dangerous and responsible for an attempted murder on the 1000 block of E Street that left one woman hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds.

Thursday’s shooting — at least the sixth the city’s seen in under three months — occurred at around 5:43 p.m. near the intersection of Grant and E streets, Eureka Police Department Capt. Brian Stephens said. Police taped off the property and searched the back unit attached to a two-story, white, Victorian house.

He declined to comment on the nature of any relationship between the suspect and victim or on what type of weapon was used in the shooting.

“We believe he left with it,” Stephens said of the weapon.

Criminal history

Thursday evening’s shooting is not Upton’s first run-in with the law.

In November 2012, Upton was arrested by the EPD’s Problem Oriented Policing Unit on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale, possession of drug paraphernalia, unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, maintaining a place for the purpose of unlawfully selling, giving away, or using a controlled substance as well as other drug related offenses.

Upton was again arrested by the EPD in May 2013 on suspicion of domestic violence, carrying a concealed loaded firearm in a vehicle, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and being a prohibited person in possession of ammunition.

In July of that same year, following an attempted traffic stop turned high-speed chase, the EPD arrested Upton on suspicion of felony evasion of a peace officer in a vehicle, failure to wear a seat belt, failure to stop for a red light at an intersection and unsafely changing lanes.

In 2014, Upton was held in contempt of court and jailed after refusing to testify in the double murder trial of Bodhi Tree.

Violent season

Thursday’s shooting was at least the sixth in a string of shootings reported in Eureka during the last three months. In September, 18-year-old Dax Edward Clay-Brown of McKinleyville was shot and killed in Hammond Park. In October, 31-year-old Elliot Michael Walin of Fortuna was killed and another unidentified man was shot and badly injured during what police called a marijuana dispute near the intersection of Watson and F streets. And on Nov. 1, 20-year-old Killian Shane O’Quinn of Eureka was shot and killed in a gunfight with a California Highway Patrol officer at the intersection of 4th and Q streets after O’Quinn shot the officer in the leg.